Swallows prepare for the great journey south

I have been watching them virtually every day, and watching the
tendency for the birds to form into bigger and bigger flocks.

With the end of summer, (what summer?), many folk get the urge to
travel south in search of sun and heat, and of course they are only
following the trend of swallows who have been doing the same thing for
thousands of years. Now that the swallows have finished with the
breeding season, they are getting the urge to head south.

But "to begin at the beginning ", as Dylan Thomas sagely opened
Under Mills Wood, let us start with the arrival of the swallow in this
country.

There seems to be an annual variation in the arrival of this bird
each year, more dependent on the weather conditions of the flight than
on the weather on arrival.

In some favourable seasons, the bird has been reported as arriving
as early as late February. Even for birds to be sighted during the
first few weeks of March is unusual, but April is more the normal
arrival time.

Some expects think the first week or so in April is still too
early.

When the early birds arrive, they do not immediately head for their
final destination! Instead, they seek out a spot where the food supply
is best, and partake of a few insect feasts! So if you see one of
these early birds you will be able to observe them flying to and fro
over marshland and meadow, especially those places where they are most
likely to feed! Early on in the year the insects are all lying low,
hibernating or avoiding predators.

Once the food supply has become more general and secure, which only
the passage of time, and heat, can achieve, the birds then head for a
more definite site.

Most adult swallows tend to go back to
the spot where they bred the previous year, and are quite well known
for the habit of being faithful to their nesting spot. Indeed it was
at one place in Norfolk, England, that a bird was ringed over a half
century ago. Sixteen years later, the bird was found near the same
place, which tells us something of the faithfulness of a swallow to
its breeding place, and also tells us something of how long lived the
bird can be. The general rule of thumb with small birds is that they
only last a few years in the wild. Sixteen years is more than a few
years!

Throughout the day the swallows are occupied in their endless
search for flies, and you can see them skimming quite low. Sometimes
over the surface of water they can get so close to the water that they
dip their tail feathers into the water. That is usually when they are
picking up a creature off the surface.

Later on, when there is an insect hatching and the air is full of
the creatures, the swallow tends to fly at a height.

The birds find it easy to catch the insects, one reason being there
is such a glut of them, and another reason being that they are such
agile birds.

Flies and small beetles constitute the major food requirements of
the swallows. But the birds can be more adventurous and have been
known to tackle much larger prey. Moths and butterflies can be caught
on the wing, and consumed.

I am sure you must all be familiar with the nest of the
swallow! They take up abode, in cow 'sheds, in barns, in outhouses,
and at times in old decrepit houses. Then there are irregular reports
of swallows building a nest in a tree. Then there was the report of a
pair of swallows building a nest in an old fishing g boat in Scotland,
and at high water the nest was less than a metre from the water. Also
in Scotland, a pair of swallows nested in a bedroom, an occupied
lady's bedroom! Strange birds, these Scottish swallows

The normal nest is made from mud and dry grass, is saucer shaped,
and the mud is picked up by the birds from boggy land or the
perimeters of water.

I have seen them utilise puddles of water, as well as using river
side and lake side mud. The nest is usually built on a joist or rafter
feathers are then used as the final lining. Before houses were as
common as they are now, the swallow would take to a cave, find itself
a ledge and nest there. In some parts of the world where houses are
not so common as they are here, the swallow will use cliff and cave
ledges as a number one site.

But now the birds are thinking about returning south. Like the
humans they like the idea of the sun. In the past I have seen them
flying over the Mediterranean, and I think that all European birds
live in winter Africa. Seeing them in Tunisia and Libya, I felt that
the birds were on the move. Further south in Sierra Leone, Ghana and
Nigeria, I could not be sure if the birds had ceased their southern
movement or not.

In Egypt, and down the east coast of Africa, it seemed that the
birds were for moving on. But the swallows I saw in South Africa had
definitely come to the end of their journey for the year.

Unlike the Arctic terns they had no further flying south to do. The
humans who got to South Africa usually went no further either.

Coming Events

Saturday 11th Sunday 12th
September European Heritage
Open Days at Moneypenny's Lock and House, details from Oxford Island
3832 2205.

Saturday 18th, Sunday 19th September
- Castle Espie is hosting a Green Living Fair for the sixth
consecutive year. Magic, well worth a visit. Call Espie for more
details, 9187 4146.

Sunday 26th September -
Harvest Home, a celebration of the harvest at Tannaghmor Gardens,
details from Museum Services on 3834 1635

Monday 27th September -
Lisburn RSPB start the new season with Birds of the County Down, with
Ian Jackson, contact 4062 6125 for more details.

Saturday 2nd October -
Lisburn RSPB have a trip to Ramore Head and Bann Estuary, more from
9266 1982

Saturday 16th October - RSPB
Members' Day at the Greenmount Campus. Talk to the RSPB for more
information